CN112584481A

CN112584481A - Wireless device performance optimization using dynamic power control

Info

Publication number: CN112584481A
Application number: CN202010940014.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: D·A·贾达夫; G·梁; M·D·诺伊曼; I·S·森
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2019-09-27
Filing date: 2020-09-09
Publication date: 2021-03-30
Also published as: US10965335B1; US11695443B2; US20210099194A1; US20210184714A1; US11387860B2; US20230327697A1; KR20210037541A; US20220302946A1; EP3799316A1; KR102342821B1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to wireless device performance optimization using dynamic power control. Dynamic Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) can be achieved by monitoring and controlling power utilization over time of various Radio Frequency (RF) transmitting components within a mobile device. The power utilization can be tracked and modified to control the time-averaged RF exposure within the rolling time window. An updated rolling average of the RF transmissions can be periodically calculated based on transmission data received from the mobile device component, and the continuously updated rolling average of the RF transmissions can be compared to the time-averaged power utilization limit. Based on such comparison results, the mobile device can dynamically adjust current transmissions of the radio transceiver and other RF transmitting components on the mobile device.

Description

Wireless device performance optimization using dynamic power control

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. non-provisional application No.16/787,617 entitled "WIRELESS DEVICE PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION USE DYNAMIC POWER" filed on 11.2.2020, which claims priority of U.S. provisional application No.62/907,347 entitled "WIRELESS DEVICE PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION USE DYNAMIC POWER" filed on 27.9.2019. The disclosures of these applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Background

Many computing devices, particularly mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and wearable devices and accessories, may emit Radio Frequency (RF) energy during operation. For example, a mobile device may contain a plurality of different RF transmitting components, such as a bluetooth radio transceiver, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio transceiver, and a cellular radio component such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) transceiver. Each of these RF components may emit RF energy during transmission of wireless communications via one or more antennas, and the amount of RF energy emitted may vary during operation based on the component's current operating mode, the number of antennas, the transmission power, and the duty cycle used during transmission.

Because of the potential harm RF energy can cause to humans, attempts have been made to control or regulate the amount of RF emissions to which a user of a mobile device may be exposed. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is a measure of the amount of energy absorbed by the human body when exposed to an RF electromagnetic field. SAR adjustments have been implemented to limit RF exposure to users of mobile phones and other mobile devices. Such adjustments may include the maximum allowed transmit power of the RF transceiver established on the mobile device, and may also take into account the amount of user skin (e.g., amount of tissue) exposed to the RF emissions and the exposure location on the user (e.g., head, body, or limbs).

Disclosure of Invention

Techniques for implementing dynamic Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) by monitoring and controlling power utilization over time of various components within a mobile device are described herein. The dynamic SAR systems and techniques described herein can provide an alternative function for monitoring and limiting user exposure to RF emissions from a mobile device by tracking and implementing time-averaged RF exposure over a rolling time window. The dynamic SAR system and components within the mobile device can monitor RF energy emissions from components of the mobile device, including wireless transmissions from various radio transceivers (e.g., bluetooth, WLAN, LTE, etc.) within the device. The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) may be proportional to the power conducted by the mobile device, so a dynamic SAR system within the mobile device may enter the conducted power level, on-time, and off-time of the radio transceiver and other device components, and may calculate a running SAR average using a control algorithm. The dynamic SAR system may periodically calculate an updated rolling average of the RF transmission based on the transmission data received from the mobile device component. The continuously updated rolling average of RF transmissions from the device may be compared to a predetermined SAR allocation budget, and based on the comparison, the mobile device may dynamically adjust a current transmission of a radio transceiver on the mobile device to remain within predetermined RF exposure limits for a current rolling time window.

In some embodiments, a power utilization control engine and various associated components executing within a mobile device may be used to control power utilization within the mobile device. For example, the power utilization control engine can receive power utilization data for a first time window from various components of the mobile device (such as a host driver of an RF radio on the device). A current user's proximity to the mobile device, including the amount and area of tissue on the user's body that is exposed to RF energy, may also be determined, and the RF energy exposure limit may be determined based on the user's proximity to the mobile device. A power utilization control engine on the mobile device can then calculate a time-averaged power utilization for various components of the mobile device within the first time window based on the received power utilization data. The time-averaged power utilization for each RF component, each antenna, and/or the entire mobile device may be calculated. The time-averaged power utilization value can be compared to one or more thresholds based on predetermined RF energy exposure limits, and the power utilization of various RF transmitting components on the mobile device can be adjusted based on the threshold comparison results. As described in more detail below, the dynamic adjustments performed on the RF components may include activating/deactivating different components, increasing/decreasing transmission power, and increasing/decreasing duty cycle.

Accordingly, the techniques for dynamic SAR described herein may provide several technical advantages over prior techniques, including optimization of transmissions from mobile devices. For example, using dynamic SAR, a mobile device can dynamically increase its transmission power level above a previously allowable maximum transmission power level by continuously monitoring the current state of the RF transmission allocation within the current rolling time window and reducing the transmission power and/or duty cycle as needed. Thus, averaging SAR over time may allow for higher peak transmission power. The mobile device may also coordinate transceiver activation, transmission levels, and duty cycles across multiple different RF components (e.g., bluetooth, WLAN, LTE, etc.) within the mobile device to optimize performance of the transmission components while complying with SAR limits of the current rolling time window.

These and other embodiments of the disclosure are described in detail below. For example, other embodiments relate to systems, devices, and computer-readable media that include computer-executable instructions for performing all of the methods described herein.

The nature and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure may be better understood by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example mobile device including a plurality of radios that transmit radio frequency energy, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an example mobile device including a power utilization control engine according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for controlling power utilization within an exemplary mobile device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4A and 4B are example graphs illustrating power utilization readings within an example mobile device according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is another flow diagram illustrating an example technique for controlling power utilization within a mobile device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is an example graph illustrating example power utilization accumulation data within a mobile device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 7A-7D are exemplary graphs illustrating exemplary power utilization readings and dynamic power control modifications within a mobile device according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example mobile device and an example server/service provider computer of a dynamic power utilization control system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Aspects of the present disclosure provide various techniques (e.g., methods, systems, devices, computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions for performing computing functions, etc.) for performance optimization of a wireless device using dynamic power utilization control. In particular, the following describes certain techniques for implementing a dynamic Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) system, including monitoring and controlling power utilization of various RF transmit components within a mobile device over time. In some embodiments, user exposure to RF energy emissions from a mobile device may be limited by monitoring, tracking, and implementing time-averaged RF exposure within a rolling time window. In some embodiments, a power utilization control engine executing within the mobile device may monitor RF energy emissions from RF transmitting components of the mobile device, including wireless transmissions from various radio transceivers (e.g., bluetooth, WLAN, LTE, etc.) within the device. The power utilization control engine may periodically calculate an updated rolling average of the RF transmissions based on transmission data periodically received from the mobile device components. The continuously updated rolling average of RF transmissions from the device may be compared to a predetermined SAR allocation budget, and based on the comparison, the mobile device may dynamically adjust a current transmission of a radio transceiver on the mobile device to remain within predetermined RF exposure limits for a current rolling time window.

Thus, using the various features and techniques described herein, a mobile device may automatically control its transmission capabilities and other functions in order to maintain RF energy exposure to a user below a predetermined limit of a scrolling time window. By receiving and analyzing data from the radio transceiver and other RF components on the mobile device, the device can determine the user's RF exposure within the most recent previous time window. In the event that the user's RF exposure is near the limit of the rolling time window or transmission limit, the mobile device may reduce transmission power, duty cycle, and/or turn on or off various transceivers as needed to ensure that the user's RF exposure remains below the limit. In other cases, if the RF exposure of the RF user is well below the limits of the rolling time window, the mobile device may increase the transmission power and/or duty cycle to provide higher quality transmission capabilities.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an environment 100 with a mobile device 110 including multiple radios, each radio transmitting Radio Frequency (RF) energy. In this example, the mobile device 110 may be, for example, a smart phone 110 operated by a user. As shown in this example, the smartphone 110 has at least three different RF transmitting components: a bluetooth radio transceiver, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio transceiver, and a cellular (e.g., LTE) radio transceiver. In this example, each radio transceiver may include one or more antennas that work in concert to establish a wireless connection, transmit/receive data packets, and provide desired network functionality to the various mobile applications and communication capabilities of the smartphone 110. Further, different radio transceivers on the mobile device 110 may operate separately and independently, such that a first radio (e.g., a bluetooth transceiver) may not know or be able to discover the current operating mode or the status of transmitting/receiving other radios (e.g., WLAN and LTE transceivers) installed on the device, and vice versa. Although this example shows only three radio transceivers as the only RF transmitting components, in other examples, mobile device 110 may include more or fewer RF transmitting components, and it should be noted that not all RF transmitting components need be radio transceivers.

As mentioned above, each radio transceiver of the smartphone 110 shown in this example may emit RF energy in the form of an RF electromagnetic field. The amount of RF energy transmitted from a radio transceiver at a particular time may vary based on factors such as the current operating mode (e.g., activated/deactivated, transmit/receive, etc.), transmit power, and transmit duty cycle. Fig. 1 shows an exemplary power utilization graph for each of three radio transceivers in a smartphone 110. Since these radio transceivers operate independently of each other, they may both actively transmit and thus transmit RF energy simultaneously, and thus the total RF energy transmitted from the smartphone 110 at a particular time may be determined by aggregating the RF transmissions from the individual components.

The techniques described in more detail below relate to monitoring and controlling RF emissions from a radio transceiver (and/or other RF transmitting components) within the mobile device 110. For example, in some embodiments, the power utilization of each of the radio transceivers in the mobile device 110 may be periodically or continuously monitored, and the power utilization readings may be used to calculate a running average of the RF emissions from the mobile device 110 during the time window. The moving average of the RF emissions within the current time window may be compared to one or more RF emission thresholds to determine whether to adjust operation of the radio transceiver. For example, when the time-averaged power transmission of a radio transceiver in the mobile device 110 approaches the upper limit of the time window, one or more of the radio transceivers may be reconfigured to reduce the duty cycle and/or transmission power. If the time-averaged power transmission exceeds an additional higher threshold, one or more of the radio transceivers may be temporarily stopped or turned off to avoid exceeding the allowable RF transmission limit within the time window. In contrast, when the time-averaged power transmission is below certain thresholds for the current time window, the transmission power and/or duty cycle of one or more radio transceivers may be increased to improve transmission power and quality. In addition, coordination between different radio transceivers may be supported, e.g. temporarily deactivating one radio transceiver in order to maintain (or even increase) the transmission power of the higher priority radio transceiver (or higher priority transmission).

In this example, a user of the mobile device is also shown. As described above, the RF exposure limit and corresponding threshold may be based not only on the amount of RF energy emitted by the mobile device, but also on the proximity of the mobile device 110 to the user, which may include data such as the amount of tissue exposed to the RF emission and the area (or site) to which the user is exposed. Thus, in at least some embodiments described below, the mobile device 110 can be configured to use a movement sensor and an orientation sensor to determine when the mobile device 110 is held by, attached to, or otherwise on the user's body. The mobile device 110 may also determine or calculate the distance between the mobile device 110 (or a particular antenna of the RF transmitter) and the user, the amount of tissue on the user exposed to the RF transmissions, and the location or area of the user's body (e.g., head, body, and/or limbs) exposed to the RF transmissions, such that some or all of this data may be used to determine the appropriate RF energy exposure limit for the user at a particular time.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating components of a dynamic Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) control system 200 implemented within a mobile device 210. In this example, the dynamic SAR system 200 can be implemented using a power utilization control engine 220 that executes within the mobile device 210 and communicates with one or more radio components 230 of the mobile device 210, transmission and power utilization limit data 240 that can be preconfigured and/or received from external sources, and proximity, movement, and orientation sensors 250.

Power utilization control engine 220 may be implemented within mobile device 210 as a dedicated software component (e.g., within a mobile operating system) and/or as a combination of dedicated hardware and software. As shown in this example, power utilization control engine 220 can be configured to access and communicate with a host driver of one or more radios within mobile device 210 to retrieve power utilization data from the host driver of radio 230 and send instructions to radio 230 via the host driver to modify transmission parameters and/or functions of radio 230. In this example, the mobile device 210 includes three radios, a bluetooth component 230a, a WLAN component 230b, and an LTE component 230c, each radio may include a separate processor and/or memory architecture, and each radio may wirelessly transmit/receive data via a set of dedicated antennas 235. Although only three different RF transmission components 230 are shown in this example, in other embodiments, additional RF transmission components (e.g., near field communication controllers, broadcast radios, microwave transmitters, satellite communication systems, etc.) and/or various different combinations of RF transmission components 230 may be used.

As discussed in more detail below, the power utilization control engine 220 may be configured to track and monitor the power utilization of various RF transmit components 230 within the mobile device 210. A time-averaged power utilization can be generated for the current time window, which can be periodically updated based on new transmission data received from component 230, and power utilization control engine 220 can use the time-averaged power data to enforce RF emission limits on mobile device 210. In some cases, the limit may be stored as an RF emission limit and/or power utilization limit 240, which may be preconfigured into the mobile device 210 and/or received from an external server or service to implement a set of transmission strategies and/or RF emission strategies on the mobile device 210.

In addition to the RF transmission and/or power utilization limits 240, which may be determined based on regulatory agencies, standards committees, or based on network-level or organization-level policies, the power utilization control engine 220 may also store and use optimization patterns and/or a set of configuration parameters to customize the power utilization control functions. In some embodiments, various optimization modes may be supported, including a transmission power optimization mode in which the rate within the transmission range may be maximized, or a delay optimization mode in which the transmission power is limited but not delayed for any radio transmission. Another example of a configuration parameter may be an operating mode. In some embodiments, four separate modes of operation may be supported: mode 0, where the transmission power is limited by an initial transmission upper limit (SAR), (Tx cap), the transmission duty cycle is not limited, and TDMTx is an off mode (existing mode), mode 1, where the transmission power is limited by SAR (Tx cap), the transmission duty cycle is TDMTx pattern 1, and TDMTx is an on mode (existing mode), mode 2, where the transmission power is dynamically limited to a minimum between MIN (PPR, CLM), which may be defined as a minimum between PPR (which may be an EVM and mask compatible per rate transmission power limit) and CLM (which may correspond to a budget limit associated with the current country and channel but not including SAR regulations), and where the transmission duty cycle is TDMTx pattern 1, such that mode 2 is optimized for maximum transmission power (e.g., may operate at (Tx power > SAR) with power utilization allowed, and mode 3, where transmission power is limited by sar (tx cap) and the transmission duty cycle is dynamic such that mode 3 is optimized for minimum delay and muting due to WLAN Simultaneous Dual Band (SDB), and mode 3 may allow simultaneous transmission from the WLAN radio with power budget utilization allowed. Other types of configuration parameters may include data defining the range of RF emission limits (e.g., per antenna, per radio, per device), the length of the time window, and/or the length of the time increment of the mean power utilization data at update. Additional configuration parameters may include priorities between different radios and/or different communication modes such that if it is determined that power utilization is to be reduced, a particular radio may be selected based on the priority data.

Power utilization control engine 220 may also communicate with one or more sensors 250 of mobile device 210 to detect the operation of the device and the proximity of device 210 to the user. As described above, the RF exposure limit and corresponding threshold may be based on factors such as the proximity of the mobile device 110 to the user, the amount of tissue of the user exposed to the RF emissions, and the area (or region) of the user's body (e.g., head, body, or limbs) exposed to the RF emissions. Thus, the power utilization control engine 220 may access one or more device movement sensors, position sensors, and/or orientation sensors to determine when the mobile device 210 is held by, attached to, or otherwise on the user's body, as well as the distance between the mobile device 210 (or a particular antenna of an RF transmitter) and the user, the amount of tissue on the user that is exposed to RF emissions from the mobile device 210, and the particular part of the user's body that is exposed to RF emissions.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for controlling power utilization within a mobile device. As described below, the operations in this process may be performed by a mobile device 210, such as a smartphone or other mobile device executing a power utilization control engine 220. Thus, features and functions may be described with reference to the apparatus and system described above in FIG. 2. It should be understood, however, that the process of monitoring power utilization between RF transmitting components of the mobile device 210, comparing time-averaged power utilization data to a threshold based on RF transmission limits, and then determining and implementing modifications to the RF transmitting components of the mobile device 210 as described herein is not limited to the particular computing environments and systems described above, but may be performed within a variety of other computing environments and systems.

In block 301, the power utilization control engine 220 of the mobile device 210 may receive updated power utilization data from one or more RF transmit components operating within the mobile device. The mobile device components from which data is received in block 301 may include any of the radio transceiver components 230 of the mobile device 210, such as a bluetooth radio, a WLAN radio, an LTE (or other cellular) wireless broadband radio, an NFC controller, and so forth. As shown in fig. 2, the data may be retrieved via a host device driver installed on the mobile device 210 and associated with each radio. As described above, the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) may be proportional to the power conducted by the mobile device components, and thus the power utilization control engine 220 may retrieve data including the conducted power level, the on-time, and the off-time from each of the radio transceiver 230 and/or other RF transmitting device components.

As described below, the power utilization data received in block 301 may be used to repeatedly calculate a dynamic SAR average over a rolling time window. Accordingly, power utilization control engine 220 may be configured to retrieve the power utilization data in block 301 according to a predetermined time interval within the rolling time window. In various embodiments, power usage data samples may be collected every 0.1 second, 0.2 seconds, 0.5 seconds, 1 second, and so forth. For example, when using a 0.1 second sample time and a rolling window average time of 100 seconds, the stored 1000 sequential samples may be retrieved to generate the current dynamic SAR average, 600 sequential samples may be used for a rolling window average time of 60 seconds, 300 sequential samples may be used for a rolling window average time of 30 seconds, and so on. In some embodiments, when collecting samples from multiple different RF components 230 in block 301, the power utilization control engine 220 may be configured to specifically request data from a particular sampling time and/or validate a set associated with the data samples to ensure that the power utilization data samples received from the different RF components 230 correspond to the same time interval. Accordingly, power utilization control engine 220 may recalculate the current SAR utilization (or current power utilization) at the end of each monitoring period. Further, it may be advantageous to collect and process power utilization data samples in real-time or near real-time, so that any subsequent modifications to the power utilization of the RF components may be performed in response to the most recent power utilization data collected by the device.

In block 302, power utilization control engine 220 may calculate time-averaged power utilization data using data retrieved in multiple iterations of block 301. As described above, the number of samples used in block 302 to calculate the time-averaged power utilization for a particular RF component 230 may depend on the sampling rate (e.g., 0.1 seconds, 0.5 seconds, etc.) and the length of the rolling window average time (e.g., 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 100 seconds, etc.).

In some embodiments, the techniques for dynamic SAR and power utilization control described herein may be applied to a single RF component 230. Thus, block 302 may involve averaging the previous N samples of power utilization data from a single RF component 230. However, in other examples, such as when the mobile device 210 includes multiple RF components 230 that may operate simultaneously and/or when a single RF emission limit/threshold may be applied to multiple RF components 230 or to the entire mobile device 210, then block 302 may include time-averaging power utilization data from multiple different RF components 230. In some embodiments, separate time-averaged power utilization values may be generated for each different RF component 230 in block 302, and then the different time-averaged values may be summed or aggregated in block 302 to determine the time-averaged power utilization value for the mobile device 210 as a whole.

In some embodiments, the power budget utilization during a particular monitoring period may be calculated using the following formula:

Umon＝Pave÷Plim

in the formula, in the above-mentioned formula,

pave is the average power per monitoring period

Px ═ transmission power

Tx-transmission duration with power Px

Plim ═ current SAR power limit

Tmon ═ monitoring window duration, and

umon is the SAR utilization per monitoring period.

Referring briefly to fig. 4A and 4B, two example graphs depicting power utilization readings within the mobile device 210 are shown. In these examples,

lines

401a and 401b represent real-time power utilization data samples collected in block 301, while

curves

402a and 402b correspond to the time-averaged power utilization data generated in block 302. As these examples illustrate, a large temporary increase or decrease in power utilization of the RF component may have a relatively small real-time impact on the time-averaged power utilization data, depending on the length of the rolling window averaging time. As described below, this may allow for temporary increases in transmission power and/or duty cycle in order to optimize transmission quality without exceeding the RF emission limits of the current rolling time window.

In some embodiments, additional techniques may be used to track the transmission power of WLAN RF component 230 b. For example, modern WLAN radios may not always remain on the same channel, but may maintain multiple connections (e.g., infrared + Apple Wireless Direct (AWDL)/Neighbor Aware Network (NAN)) and perform off-channel scanning and roaming between different APs, resulting in a change in SAR limits. External events such as head/body detection and LTE-COEX, BT-COEX may also affect the SAR limit of the WLAN radio. Thus, in general, the SAR limit (or power utilization limit) may be different for each frame. Additionally, WLAN radio 230b may transmit on one of the chains or any combination of the chains and may use different antennas. SAR limits for each antenna may be defined and thus Tx power usage for each antenna may be tracked in such cases. Further, to accommodate all requirements based on available capabilities, a power utilization control engine within the mobile device may track the total transmission time and each packet Tx power increment from the actual SAR limit at the time of transmission. In such cases, the SAR utilization per monitoring period may be calculated using the following formula (which may be calculated per antenna for each RF component 230):

in the formula, in the above-mentioned formula,

Plim-SAR limit

Delta P is the frame Tx power delta from SAR limit

Duration of monitoring period

tx-frame duration

In addition, the SAR budget utilization for SDB WLAN systems can be calculated from each set of monitoring period samples for the two radios acquired over the duration of the observation window (twin) for each antenna using the following formula:

in the formula, in the above-mentioned formula,

SAR-SAR utilization

Twin ═ observation window duration

U1x, T1x ═ SAR utilization per monitoring period and duration of its sampling radio 1

U2x, T2x ═ SAR utilization per monitoring period and duration of its sampling radio 2

The SAR utilization data for each antenna 235 and each monitoring period may be collected and stored by the power utilization control engine 220 over an observation window duration (Twin). During each monitoring period, the acquired data may include a timestamp, a period duration, a total transmission duration during the period, a SAR limit during the period (which may be expressed in mW, for example, and which may be averaged or a selectable minimum), an actual transmission duty cycle during the period (as a percentage%), a SAR utilization during the period (as a percentage%), and an accumulated transmission power consumption relative to the SAR limit, which may be calculated using the following equation:

in the formula, in the above-mentioned formula,

plimx ═ SAR limit

Px, Tx ═ frame power and duration

In addition, the power utilization control engine 220 may calculate and store the following data for each antenna averaged over the duration of the observation window and aggregated for all radio components connected to the antenna: SAR budget utilization (as%), total Tx duty cycle (as%), and total Tx duration (seconds).

In block 303, power utilization control engine 220 may compare the time-averaged power utilization data for the current rolling time window to one or more thresholds based on the applicable RF exposure limits. Since the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) may be proportional to the power utilized by the mobile device 210, the power utilization control engine 220 may use the time-averaged power utilization data as a proxy to determine whether the mobile device 210 meets applicable SAR limits. As described above, in various embodiments, the SAR limit may be a per antenna power utilization limit, a per radio component power utilization limit, and/or a per device power utilization limit.

Additionally, the SAR limit for RF energy exposure to the user may depend on the proximity and location of the mobile device 210 relative to the user. Accordingly, block 303 may also include selecting an appropriate threshold based on the current proximity and location of the mobile device 210. For example, the power utilization control engine 220 may access current device usage data as well as device sensors 250, such as position sensors, movement (e.g., acceleration) sensors, and orientation sensors (e.g., gyroscope sensors), in order to determine whether the mobile device is being held by, attached to, or otherwise on the user's body. The power utilization control engine 220 can also use the sensor data to determine a particular distance of the device and/or a particular antenna 235 from the user's skin, as well as the area/region (e.g., head, body, limbs, etc.) of the user exposed to the RF emissions. For example, for a smartphone 210 with the ability to determine when the user is holding and speaking directly into the phone's microphone or listening from the speaker, the power utilization control engine 220 may use this ability to determine when the user's head is exposed to RF emissions, rather than the user's body or limbs, and may apply appropriate thresholds.

In some cases, power utilization control engine 220 may determine in block 303 that the proximity and positioning of mobile device 210 relative to the user has changed during the course of the current scrolling time window. For example, assuming a rolling window average time of 60 seconds is being used, the power utilization control engine 220 may detect that the user has lifted the mobile device 210 to his/her head within the last 20 seconds, but that the mobile device 210 was in the user's pocket within the previous 40 seconds. In some embodiments, when a change in the proximity and location of the mobile device 210 is detected during the scrolling window, the power utilization control engine 220 may simply reset the data and begin a new scrolling calculation. However, in other embodiments, the power utilization control engine 220 may calculate the real-time dynamic threshold based on available data within a previously scrolled time window. For example, the dynamic power utilization threshold may be determined based on: (a) a first threshold associated with a first location/proximity of the mobile device 210, (b) an amount of time that the mobile device 210 is within a most recent scroll window of the first location/proximity, (c) a second threshold associated with a second location/proximity of the mobile device 210, (b) an amount of time that the mobile device 210 is within a most recent scroll window of the second location/proximity, and so on.

Referring again to fig. 4A and 4B, within the two graphs shown in these examples, straight horizontal lines 403a, 403B, and 404B may represent time-averaged power utilization thresholds for scrolling time windows. Thus, in fig. 4A, immediately following each update calculation of the time average power utilization in block 302, the resulting current time average 402a may be compared to a power utilization threshold 403 a. In the example shown in fig. 4A, the time-averaged power utilization value 402a fluctuates but remains below the threshold 403a at all times, even when the current power utilization 401a exceeds the threshold 403 a. As shown in this example, in response to receiving an updated power utilization data reading corresponding to a new most recent time interval, power utilization control engine 220 may first generate a set of updated power utilization data readings by replacing an oldest power utilization data reading from a previous set, corresponding to the first time window, within the plurality of power utilization data readings with the updated power utilization data reading, and then calculate an updated time-averaged power utilization based at least in part on the set of updated power utilization data readings.

In fig. 4B, another example is shown where multiple different thresholds 403B and 404B may be used to allow the power utilization control engine 220 to better optimize and fine tune the transmission parameters and capabilities of the mobile device 210. For example, in fig. 4B, immediately following each update calculation of the time average power utilization in block 302, the resulting current time average 402B may be compared to a first power utilization threshold 403B. If the current time average 402b exceeds the first threshold 403b, the subsequent adjustment to the RF component 230 may be a relatively small reduction in transmission power or duty cycle, etc., while if the current time average 402b exceeds both the first threshold 403b and the second threshold 404b, the modification made to the RF component 230 may be a large reduction in transmission power or duty cycle, deactivation of one or more RF components 230 or antennas 235, etc. Alternatively, if the current time average value 402b is below both the first threshold 403b and the second threshold 404b, the modifications made to the RF section 230 may correspond to an increase in transmission power and/or duty cycle in order to improve transmission performance and signal quality. Although two

different thresholds

403b and 404b are used in this example, it should be understood that three or more different thresholds may be used to better optimize and fine tune the performance of the RF component 230 while continuously monitoring the applicable RF exposure limit of the current rolling window in order to prevent the RF component 230 from exceeding this limit.

In block 304, based on a comparison between the time-averaged power utilization data for the current rolling time window and one or more thresholds based on the applicable RF exposure limits, power utilization control engine 220 may determine whether to modify operation of one or more RF components 230 on the device. For example, if the power utilization control engine 220 determines that the current power utilization data of the mobile device 210 is at or near an optimal performance level, the power utilization control engine 220 may use locally-based rules to determine that the operation of the RF component 230 should not be modified (304: no).

In contrast, if the power utilization control engine 220 identifies one or more potential optimizations (304: yes), the power utilization control engine 220 may determine a particular RF component 230 in block 305. As described above, the potential RF component 230 modifications determined in block 305 may include one or more of the following: adjust the transmission power level up or down for a particular RF component 230 and/or antenna 235, adjust the transmission duty cycle up or down for a particular RF component 230 and/or antenna 235, or activate or deactivate a particular RF component 230 and/or antenna 235. A set of logic rules stored and/or executed by power utilization control engine 220 may be used to determine a set of RF component 230 modifications to be performed in block 305 based on the time-averaged power utilization data in the current rolling window and based on various thresholds. In addition, the power utilization control engine 220 may retrieve and use relevant data, such as predetermined optimization modes, configuration settings, prioritization data, and the like, to determine the particular RF component 230 modification to perform.

For example, referring briefly to fig. 5, another flow diagram is shown illustrating various techniques for determining the particular RF component 230 modifications to be performed in block 305. Specifically, 501-504 illustrates a particular determination technique, relevant underlying data, and criteria that may be used to determine which RF component 230 modifications should be applied in block 305. It should be understood that different subsets of these techniques, data, and/or criteria for determining modification of RF component 230 may be used in different embodiments and for different mobile devices 210.

In block 501, power utilization control engine 220 may determine a particular component on mobile device 210 to receive a power utilization modification. As noted above, such components may include any RF transmission components operating on the mobile device 210, including but not limited to various radio transceivers 230 and/or radio antennas 235. In some cases, the RF emission limit may be an antenna-specific limit or a radio-specific limit, so the determination of a particular component in block 501 may simply correspond to the same component that was subjected to the threshold comparison in block 303. In other cases, the RF emission limit (and corresponding power utilization limit) can be associated with the mobile device 210 (or at least a plurality of different RF components 230) as a whole. In such cases, power utilization control engine 220 may use configuration data that identifies priorities among different RF components 230, indicating which components caused the transmission power reduction or duty cycle reduction first, which components were deactivated first, and which components did not cause any performance reduction, deactivation, etc.

In block 502, the power utilization control engine 220 may select one or more of the antennas 235 within the selected RF component 230 on which to apply the modification. In the case where a particular RF component 230 uses only one antenna 235, that antenna may be selected by default. In other cases, the logic rules may be used to select the particular antenna or antennas 235 on which to apply the modifications. Additionally, in some cases, the modification may include switching from one antenna to another in response to a certain threshold comparison to the current SAR budget utilization.

In block 503, the power utilization control engine 220 may retrieve a particular type of optimization mode and/or other configuration settings that may be used to determine the modification of the RF component 230. In some embodiments, two alternative optimization modes may be supported: a transmission power optimization mode in which the rate within the transmission range can be maximized, or a delay optimization mode in which the transmission power is limited but the transmission is not delayed. Other types of configuration parameters retrieved in block 504 may include priority data between different RF components 230, antennas 235, and/or different types of communications, mobile applications, or communication modes/protocols.

In block 504, the power utilization control engine 220 may ultimately determine the particular RF component 230, antenna 235, and particular power utilization modification based on an analysis of the data received in blocks 501-503 and applying logic rules to the data. As described above, the power utilization modifications determined for a particular RF component 230 and antenna 235 may include adjusting the transmission power level up or down, adjusting the transmission duty cycle up or down, activation or deactivation of a particular component, and so forth. This determination may be performed based on a set of logic rules stored and/or executed by power utilization control engine 220, based on time-averaged power utilization data in the current rolling window, and based on various thresholds, usage-related data such as optimization modes, configuration settings, prioritization data, and so forth.

In block 505, the modifications to RF components 230 and/or antennas 235 determined in block 504 may be implemented to effectively modify the power utilization of those components. In some embodiments, such as in block 505 of fig. 5, power utilization control engine 220 may access selected RF components 230 via their respective host drivers in order to communicate modifications to RF components 230 and/or antenna 235. The instructions for modifying transmission behavior or capabilities may take the form of transmission parameters and/or functions transmitted to RF component 230, such as updated transmission power levels, updated duty cycle parameters, component or antenna turn-on or turn-off instructions, etc., which may be transmitted as parameters via an Application Programming Interface (API) or other interface.

Fig. 6 is a graph illustrating an example of power utilization accumulation data within the mobile device 210. This example may correspond to RF component 230 such as LTE radio 230c with two antennas 235c, each antenna 235c may support both 2G network and 5G network communications. In this example, the initial transmit power (TXpower) may be defined as the minimum between PPM (which may be an EVM and mask compatible per rate transmit power limit) and CLM (which may correspond to a compliance limit associated with the current country and channel but not including SAR regulations), and the initial upper transmit limit (TX CAP) may correspond to an entry in the graph for that antenna.

In this example, the SAR budget utilization for antenna 0 over period 611 may be calculated as TXpower (601)/TX CAP (601), which corresponds to the ratio of TX power to TX CAP. Further, the TX CAP (601) of the antenna 0 at this point in time is based at least on the following: network (2G), user exposure type (head body), LTE state, and MIMO/SISO/SDB. Similarly, the SAR budget utilization for antenna 1 at period 616 can be calculated as TXpower (607)/TX CAP (607), which similarly corresponds to the ratio of TX power to TX CAP. Further, similarly, the TX CAP (607) of the antenna 1 at the point in time is based at least on the following: network (2G), user exposure type (head body), LTE state, and MIMO/SISO/SDB.

Referring now to time period 613 of antenna 0, the SAR budget utilization for antenna 0 over that time period may be calculated as TXpower (605)/TX CAP (605), which again corresponds to the ratio of TX power to TX CAP, and the TX CAP (605) at that point in time of antenna 0 is based on at least the following: network (5G), user exposure type (head body), LTE state, and MIMO/SISO. In contrast, the SAR budget utilization for antenna 0 during this time period is equal to zero (0)/TX CAP (607).

Referring now to time period 615 for antenna 0, the SAR budget utilization for antenna 0 for that time period can be calculated as ((TXPower (604)/TX CAP (604)) + ((TXPower (606)/TX CAP (606)). in this case, both the TX CAP (604) and the TX CAP (606) for antenna 0 are based at least on network (2G), user exposure type (head | body), LTE status, and MIMO/SISO/SDB.

Fig. 7A-7D are exemplary graphs illustrating power utilization readings and dynamic power control modifications within a mobile device. In fig. 7A-7C, three separate points in time (time 0, time 1, and time 2) are identified that correspond to a time interval during which power utilization data may be retrieved and at which a resulting set of modifications may be determined and applied to the RF component.

Referring first to the example in fig. 7A, in this example, a transmission duty cycle of 25% may be used 3dB above the TX CAP limit, and the TX CAP limit may be 50% of the power budget utilization. To better illustrate the techniques herein, it may be assumed that if all transmission levels in this example are 3dB above the TX CAP limit: it may be assumed that the RF section is at 50% of its power budget utilization just before time 0, that at time 1 and time 2 the RF section is at a 25% duty cycle per second, and that the cumulative power budget utilization (or SAR budget utilization) of antenna 0 may be 50% of its maximum allowed power utilization for the previous second and 50% of its maximum allowed power utilization for the previous 60 seconds. Then, at time 2, the cumulative power budget for antenna 0 would be 50% for the previous second and 50% for the previous 60 seconds.

Referring to the second example in fig. 7B, in this example, it may again be assumed that all transmission levels are 3dB above the TX CAP limit. Then, assume again that the RF section is at 50% of the power budget utilization just prior to time 0, and at time 0 and time 1, the RF section may be at a 25% transmission duty cycle. At time 1, the RF component 230 in this example is shown transitioning to a transmission duty cycle of 100%. Thus, at time 1, the power budget utilization for antenna 0 would be 50% for the previous second and 50% for the previous 60 seconds. At time 2, the power budget utilization for antenna 0 would be 200% for the previous second and 52.5% for the previous 60 seconds.

Referring to the third example in fig. 7C, in this example, again it may be assumed that all transmission levels are 3dB above the TX CAP limit, and it may also be assumed that there is no transmission before time 0 (and thus a power budget utilization of 0%). At time 1, RF component 230 has been transmitting for one second at a 100% duty cycle. Thus, at time 1, the power budget utilization for antenna 0 would be 200% for the previous second and 3.33% for the previous 60 seconds, and the power budget utilization for antenna 1 would be 0% for the last 1 second and would also be 0% for the previous 60 seconds. Then, at time 2 (one second later than time 1), the power budget utilization for antenna 0 would be 0% for the previous second and 3.33% for the previous 60 seconds, and the power budget utilization for antenna 1 would be 200% for the previous second and 3.33% for the previous 60 seconds.

Referring to the fourth example in fig. 7D, this example shows antenna diversity in an embodiment where both antenna 1a and antenna 1b are connected to the core 1 (e.g. by 1P2T or SPDT switch). The vertical lines in fig. 7D represent diversity switching points. Before the diversity switch point, the RF section has a power budget utilization of 50% on both antennas 1a and 1b before the time shown in the figure, and the RF section is at a transmission duty cycle of 12.5%, 3dB above the TX upper limit on all 4 chains before the switch, resulting in a stable 50% power budget utilization on each antenna before the switch point. Then, at the diversity switch point, RF section 230 is modified to move all transmissions from antenna 1a to antenna 1 b. In this case, the RF components can be moved to 100% transmission duty cycle on 2G and 50% duty cycle on 5G, still 3dB above the TX upper limit on all cores, resulting in a power budget utilization of 300% on antenna 0 and antenna 1 b. Then, at the end of the waveform in fig. 7D (e.g., one second after the switch point), antenna 0 is 300% of the power budget utilization for the previous second, and 54.2% of the previous 60 seconds, the power budget utilization for antenna 1a is 49.1% for the previous 60 seconds, and the power budget utilization for antenna 1b is 300% for the previous second and 5% for the previous 60 seconds.

Fig. 8 illustrates components of a mobile device and server/service provider computer of a dynamic power utilization control system 800 in accordance with at least one embodiment. As described above, the dynamic power utilization control system 800 may also be referred to as a system for dynamically controlling specific absorption rate (dynamic SAR). System 800 may include a user device 802 (e.g., a mobile device) and/or a server/service provider computer 804 that may communicate with each other via a network 806 using any suitable communication protocol.

In some examples, network 806 may include any one or combination of many different types of networks, such as a wired network, the internet, a wireless network, a cellular network, and other private/public networks. Although the illustrated example represents a user device 802 in communication with a service provider computer 804 via a network 806, the techniques are equally applicable to instances in which the user device 802 interacts with the service provider computer 804 through a landline telephone, via a kiosk, or in any other suitable manner. It should be understood that the techniques may be applied in other client/server arrangements as well as in non-client/server arrangements (e.g., locally stored applications, etc.). For example, in some embodiments, some or all of the subcomponents of power utilization control engine 820, discussed in more detail below, may operate on a service provider computer, in whole or in part, remotely from user device 802. Additionally, the user device 802 may access the functions of the service provider via a user interface and/or API provided by components of the service provider 804.

As described above, the user device 802 can be configured to execute or otherwise manage applications or instructions for performing dynamic power utilization control of various power transmitting components (e.g., radios, transmitters, antennas, etc.) within the mobile device. The mobile device 802 may be any type of computing device, such as, but not limited to, a mobile phone (e.g., a smart phone), a tablet, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a laptop, a desktop computer, a thin client device, a smart watch, a wireless headset, and so forth.

In one exemplary configuration, user device 802 can include at least one memory 810 and one or more processing units (or processors) 822. Processor 822 may be implemented in hardware, computer-executable instructions, or a combination thereof, as appropriate. Computer-executable instructions or firmware implementations of processor 822 include computer-executable instructions or machine-executable instructions written in any suitable programming language to perform the various functions described.

Memory 810 may store program instructions that can be loaded onto and executed by processor 822, as well as data generated during execution of such programs. Depending on the configuration and type of the mobile device 802, the memory 810 may be volatile memory (such as Random Access Memory (RAM)) and/or non-volatile memory (such as Read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.). The mobile device 802 may also include additional removable and/or non-removable storage 824, including, but not limited to, magnetic, optical, and/or tape storage. The disk drives and their associated non-transitory computer-readable media may provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for the computing device. In some implementations, the memory 820 may include a variety of different types of memory, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), or ROM. Although the volatile memory described herein can be referred to as RAM, any volatile memory that will not retain the data stored therein after being unplugged from a host and/or power source is suitable.

Removable and non-removable memory 810 and additional storage 824 are each examples of non-transitory computer-readable storage media. For example, non-transitory computer readable storage media may include volatile or nonvolatile, removable or non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Memory 820 and additional storage 824 are examples of non-transitory computer storage media. Additional types of computer storage media that may be present in mobile device 802 may include, but are not limited to: phase change RAM (pram), SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), Digital Video Disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by mobile device 802. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of non-transitory computer readable storage media.

Alternatively, computer readable communication media may include computer readable instructions, program modules or other data transmitted within a data signal such as a carrier wave or other transmission means. However, as used herein, computer-readable storage media does not include computer-readable communication media.

Mobile device 802 may also contain a communication connection 826 that allows computing device 802 to communicate with a data store, another computing device or server, a user terminal, and/or other devices via one or more networks. Such networks may include any one or combination of many different types of networks, such as a wired network, the internet, a wireless network, a cellular network, a satellite network, other private and/or public networks, or any combination thereof. The mobile device 802 may also include I/O devices 828, such as touch input devices, image capture devices, video capture devices, keyboards, mice, pens, voice input devices, displays, speakers, printers, etc.

Turning in more detail to the contents of memory 810, memory 810 may include an operating system 830 and/or one or more applications or services for implementing features disclosed herein. Memory 810 may include a data repository 832 that may be configured to store, for example, power utilization limits and readings from various components of mobile device 802, as well as configuration data, optimization modes, etc. that may be used by power utilization control engine 820 to provide dynamic power utilization control functions on mobile device 802.

In some examples, power utilization control engine 820 can be configured to access host device drivers associated with mobile device components such as radios, antennas, battery components, and other power transmitting components of mobile device 802 (and/or peripherals associated with user device 802). As part of providing dynamic Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) functionality, the power utilization control engine 804 can be configured to retrieve power utilization readings, for example, from the data store 832 and/or directly from a host device driver, and access configuration/mode data, transmission or RF energy absorption limit data, and the like.

In some aspects, the service provider computer 804 may also be any suitable type of computing device, such as, but not limited to, a mobile device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a server computer, a thin client device, a tablet computer, and so forth. Additionally, it should be noted that in some embodiments, the service provider computer 804 is executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a hosted computing environment. The hosted computing environment may include one or more rapidly provisioned and released computing resources, which may include computing, networking, and/or storage devices. The hosted computing environment may also be referred to as a cloud computing environment. In some examples, the service provider computer 804 may communicate with the mobile device 802 via the network 806. The service provider computer 804 may include one or more servers, which may be arranged as a cluster, a server farm, or individual servers not associated with each other. These servers may be configured to implement the functionality described herein as part of an integrated, distributed computing environment.

In one exemplary configuration, the service provider computer 804 may include at least one memory 840 and one or more processing units (or processors) 842. Processor 842 may be implemented in hardware, computer-executable instructions, firmware, or a combination thereof, as appropriate. Computer-executable instructions or firmware implementations of processor 842 include computer-executable instructions or machine-executable instructions written in any suitable programming language to perform the various functions described.

Memory 840 may store program instructions capable of being loaded and executed on processor 842, as well as data generated during execution of such programs. Depending on the configuration and type of service provider computer 804, memory 840 may be volatile (such as RAM) and/or non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.). The service provider computer 804 or server may also include additional storage 844, which may include removable storage and/or non-removable storage. Additional storage 844 may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disk and/or tape storage. The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media can provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for the computing devices. In some implementations, memory 840 may include a variety of different types of memory, such as SRAM, DRAM, or ROM.

Memory 840, additional storage 844 (whether removable or non-removable) are all examples of computer-readable storage media. For example, computer-readable storage media may include volatile or nonvolatile, removable or non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Memory 840 and additional storage 844 are examples of computer storage media. Other types of computer storage media that may be present in the service provider computer 804 may include, but are not limited to: PRAM, SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the service provider computer 804. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The service provider computer 804 may also contain a communication connection 846 that allows the service provider computer 804 to communicate with a stored database, another computing device (e.g., user device 802) or other device on a server, user terminal, and/or network 806. The service provider computer 804 may also include I/O devices 848, such as keyboards, mice, pens, voice input devices, touch input devices, displays, speakers, printers, etc.

Turning in more detail to the contents of memory 840, memory 840 may include an operating system 850, one or more data stores, and/or one or more applications, modules, or services for implementing the features disclosed herein. In at least one embodiment, the service provider can include one or more modules configured to retrieve or determine optimization modes and/or additional configuration data for additional networks to be transmitted to the user device 802 and/or related user devices. For example, the service provider computer 804 may push such transmission power optimization and configuration parameters to the network of associated computers in order to implement and update specific dynamic SAR (or dynamic power utilization control) policies at the network level or the organizational level.

The mobile device 802 can be configured with a power utilization control engine 820 to implement the techniques and functions of dynamic SAR described herein. Although not shown in fig. 8, the mobile device 802 may also include additional underlying hardware and software components and modules to support power utilization control functions, including device sensors for detecting the proximity and orientation of the device relative to the device user (e.g., the device is away from the user, the device is held near the body, the device is held near the head, etc.) at particular times that may be associated with power utilization by various device radios and other components. Thus, the user device 802 can capture device movement data, position, orientation data, usage data, and user interaction data from device sensors and other components, and analyze this data in conjunction with power utilization readings received from various device components. Based on analysis techniques that may be performed within various modules of the mobile device 802, a current time-averaged RF energy user exposure may be determined, and the operation and power utilization of various device components (e.g., radio components, antennas, etc.) may be modified to optimize both transmission capability and compliance with dynamic SAR limits.

In some embodiments, some or all of the operations described herein may be performed using an application executing on a user's device. The circuits, logic modules, processors, and/or other components may be configured to perform various operations described herein. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such configuration can be accomplished through design, setup, interconnection, and/or programming of particular components, depending on the implementation, and that the configured components may or may not be reconfigurable for different operations, again depending on the implementation. For example, a programmable processor may be configured by providing appropriate executable code; a dedicated logic circuit may be configured by appropriately connecting logic gates and other circuit elements; and so on.

Any of the software components or functions described in this patent application may be implemented as software code executed by a processor using any suitable computer language, such as, for example, Java, C + +, C #, Objective-C, Swift, or a scripting language using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques, such as Perl or Python. The software code may be stored on a computer-readable medium as a series of instructions or commands to enable storage and/or transmission. Suitable non-transitory computer readable media may include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), magnetic media such as a hard drive or floppy disk, or optical media such as a Compact Disc (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disc), flash memory, or the like. The computer readable medium may be any combination of such storage devices or transmission devices.

Computer programs incorporating the various features of the present disclosure may be encoded on a variety of computer-readable storage media; suitable media include magnetic disks or tapes, optical storage media such as Compact Disks (CDs) or DVDs (digital versatile disks), flash memory, and the like. The computer readable storage medium encoded with the program code may be packaged with a compatible device or provided separately from other devices. Further, the program code may be encoded and transmitted over wired, optical, and/or wireless networks conforming to a variety of protocols, including the internet, to allow distribution, such as via internet download. Any such computer-readable media may reside or be located within a single computer product (e.g., a solid state drive, a hard drive, a CD, or an entire computer system), and may exist or be located within different computer products within a system or network. The computer system may include a monitor, printer, or other suitable display for providing any of the results mentioned herein to a user.

Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, the recitation of "a", "an", or "the" is intended to mean "one or more". The use of "or" is intended to mean "inclusive or" rather than "exclusive or" unless explicitly indicated to the contrary. Reference to a "first" component does not necessarily require that a second component be provided. Furthermore, unless expressly stated otherwise, reference to "a first" component or "a second" component does not limit the referenced component to a particular position. The term "based on" is intended to mean "based at least in part on".

All patents, patent applications, publications, and descriptions mentioned herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. No admission is made that any document is prior art.

Further, as noted above, one aspect of the present technology is to collect and use data available from various sources to improve transmission capabilities and limit Radio Frequency (RF) energy exposure to device users. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some instances, such collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or may be used to contact or locate a particular person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, device usage data and patterns, phone numbers, email addresses, twitter IDs, home addresses, data or records related to the user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), birth dates, or any other identifying or personal information.

The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology may be useful to benefit the user. For example, the personal information data may be used to determine applications and people suggestions for sharing content that is more interesting to the user. Therefore, using such personal information data enables the user to more effectively control the sharing of content. In addition, the present disclosure also contemplates other uses for which personal information data is beneficial to a user. For example, device usage patterns and/or health and fitness data may be used to provide insight about the overall health condition of the user, or may be used as positive feedback to an individual using technology to pursue a health goal.

The present disclosure contemplates that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing, or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities should enforce and adhere to the use of privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining privacy and security of personal information data. Such policies should be easily accessible to users and should be updated as data is collected and/or used. Personal information from the user should be collected for legitimate and legitimate uses by the entity and not shared or sold outside of these legitimate uses. Furthermore, such acquisition/sharing should be performed after receiving user informed consent. Furthermore, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to defend and secure access to such personal information data, and to ensure that others who have access to the personal information data comply with their privacy policies and procedures. In addition, such entities may subject themselves to third party evaluations to prove compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adjusted to the particular type of personal information data collected and/or accessed, and to applicable laws and standards including specific considerations of jurisdiction. For example, in the united states, the collection or acquisition of certain health data may be governed by federal and/or state laws, such as the health insurance association and accountability act (HIPAA); while other countries may have health data subject to other regulations and policies and should be treated accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained for different personal data types in each country.

Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates embodiments in which a user selectively prevents use or access to personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates that hardware elements and/or software elements may be provided to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, with respect to sharing content objects, the present technology may be configured to allow a user to opt-in or opt-out of participating in the collection of personal information data at any time during or after registration service. As another example, users may choose not to provide data corresponding to their previous interactions with various applications, as well as their sharing preferences and/or historical user interactions. In yet another example, the user may choose to limit the length of time that previous application interactions and shared data are maintained, or to prohibit the collection and tracking of personal data altogether. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to accessing or using personal information. For example, the user may be notified that their personal information data is to be accessed when the application is downloaded, and then be reminded again just before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

Further, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use. Once the data is no longer needed, the risk can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification may be used to protect the privacy of the user. De-identification may be facilitated by removing certain identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting positioning data at a city level rather than at an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data among users), and/or other methods, as appropriate.

Thus, while the present disclosure broadly covers the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may be implemented without the need to access such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology do not fail to function properly due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data. For example, suggestions for sharing applications and people may be selected and provided to the user based on non-personal information data or an absolute minimum amount of personal information, such as content requested by a device associated with the user, other non-personal information available to the content sharing system, or publicly available information.

Claims

1. A method for controlling power utilization on a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving, by a power utilization control engine of a mobile device, power utilization data for a first time window from one or more components of the mobile device;

determining, by the power utilization control engine, a proximity of a user to the mobile device;

determining, by the power utilization control engine, a radio frequency energy exposure limit based at least in part on the determined proximity of the user to the mobile device;

calculating, by the power utilization control engine, a time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components of the mobile device within the first time window based at least in part on the received power utilization data;

comparing, by the power utilization control engine, the time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components to a first threshold based at least in part on the radio frequency energy exposure limit; and

adjusting, by the power utilization control engine, power utilization of the one or more components based at least in part on the comparison of the time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components to the first threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the power utilization data comprises receiving power utilization data from a plurality of different radios within the mobile device, each radio comprising one or more antennas, and

wherein adjusting the power utilization comprises adjusting the power utilization of a first radio of the plurality of different radios based at least in part on the power utilization data received from a second radio of the plurality of different radios.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the power utilization data further comprises receiving a first set of periodic transmissions of power utilization data from a first host driver associated with the first radio and receiving a second set of periodic transmissions of power utilization data from a second host driver associated with the second radio.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of different radio components within the mobile device from which power utilization data is received comprises at least one of:

a Bluetooth radio;

a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio; or

A Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless broadband radio.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the power utilization data comprises receiving a plurality of power utilization data readings corresponding to a plurality of different time intervals within the first time window, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving updated power utilization data readings corresponding to a more recent time interval than the first time window;

generating an updated set of power utilization data readings by replacing an oldest power utilization data reading within the plurality of power utilization data readings corresponding to the first time window with the updated power utilization data reading;

calculating an updated time-averaged power utilization based at least in part on the set of updated power utilization data readings;

comparing, by the power utilization control engine, the updated time-averaged power utilization to the first threshold; and

updating an adjustment to the power utilization of the one or more components based at least in part on the comparison of the updated time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components to the first threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the proximity of the user to the mobile device comprises determining (i) an amount of tissue on a user's body exposed to radio frequency energy from the mobile device and (ii) an area based at least in part on the proximity of the user to the mobile device, and wherein the radio frequency energy exposure limit is based on at least one of an amount of exposed tissue or an exposure area on the user's body.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based at least in part on the comparison of the time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components to the first threshold, then comparing the time-averaged power utilization to one or more additional thresholds, and

wherein adjusting the power utilization comprises selecting one of three or more possible adjustments to the power utilization based at least in part on a comparison of the time-averaged power utilization to the first threshold and the one or more additional thresholds.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the three or more possible adjustments to power utilization of the component of the mobile device correspond to at least three of the following adjustments:

turning off the one or more components of the mobile device;

turning on the one or more components of the mobile device;

reducing a transmission power of the one or more components of the mobile device;

reducing a duty cycle of the one or more components of the mobile device;

increasing the transmission power of the one or more components of the mobile device; and

increasing the duty cycle of the one or more components of the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency energy exposure limit is a per antenna limit, the method further comprising:

calculating the first threshold, wherein the first threshold is calculated based at least in part on the radio frequency energy exposure limit and a number of antennas operating within the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the power utilization comprises:

determining an optimization mode associated with the one or more components of the mobile device, wherein the optimization mode is stored as a preconfigured setting within the mobile device, wherein the adjusting of the power utilization of the one or more components is further based at least in part on the determined optimization mode.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a power utilization control engine of a mobile device, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving power utilization data for a first time window from one or more components of the mobile device;

determining a proximity of a user to the mobile device;

determining a radio frequency energy exposure limit based at least in part on the determined proximity of the user to the mobile device;

calculating a time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components of the mobile device within the first time window based at least in part on the received power utilization data;

comparing the time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components to a first threshold based at least in part on the radio frequency energy exposure limit; and

adjusting power utilization of the one or more components based at least in part on the comparison of the time-averaged power utilization of the one or more components to the first threshold.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein receiving the power utilization data comprises receiving power utilization data from a plurality of different radios within the mobile device, each radio comprising one or more antennas, and

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein receiving the power utilization data further comprises receiving a first set of periodic transmissions of power utilization data from a first host driver associated with the first radio and receiving a second set of periodic transmissions of power utilization data from a second host driver associated with the second radio.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein receiving the power utilization data comprises receiving a plurality of power utilization data readings corresponding to a plurality of different time intervals within the first time window, and wherein the method further comprises:

15. A computing system, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors configured to:

determining a proximity of a user to the mobile device;

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein determining the proximity of the user to the mobile device comprises determining (i) an amount of tissue on a user's body exposed to radio frequency energy from the mobile device and (ii) an area based at least in part on the proximity of the user to the mobile device, and wherein the radio frequency energy exposure limit is based on at least one of an amount of exposed tissue or an exposure area on the user's body.

17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

subsequently comparing the time-averaged power utilization to one or more additional thresholds based at least in part on the comparison of the time-averaged power utilization to the first threshold for the one or more components; and

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the three or more possible adjustments to power utilization of the component of the mobile device correspond to at least three of the following adjustments:

turning off the one or more components of the mobile device;

turning on the one or more components of the mobile device;

reducing a duty cycle of the one or more components of the mobile device;

increasing the duty cycle of the one or more components of the mobile device.

19. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the radio frequency energy exposure limit is an daily limit, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

20. The computing system of claim 15, wherein adjusting the power utilization comprises determining an optimization mode associated with the one or more components of the mobile device, wherein the optimization mode is stored as a preconfigured setting within the mobile device, wherein the adjusting of the power utilization of the one or more components is further based at least in part on the determined optimization mode.